The End of Us

by D, Hannah

  “Need any help carrying her?” Sue asked

  “No, I’ll manage. Just get those skin eaters killed” Zoe told them.

  Sarah was lighter than she looked and Zoe was only a little out of breath when she got Sarah into Simone office. Zoe heard Jeff shouting at Sophia from behind the door leading to Sophia’s room, Zoe obviously had no time to eavesdrop.

  “Simone, Sarah needs to be looked at. She was hit over the head with a rock by Sophia. There’s no blood that I can see but I don’t know how bad it is” Zoe told Simone.

  “Put her on the couch” Simone said as she was putting her gloves on.

  Zoe stood back as Simone examined Sarahs head, breathing and pupils.

  “Sarah will be fine don’t worry. I’ll just need to keep an eye on her until she wakes up and for a while after shes awake. Why did Sophia hit her on the head with a rock?” Simone asked Zoe.

  “I’ll be better explaining when everyone’s back, I don’t want to have to keep repeating myself plus I need to get some information from Jeff so I can let the group know the whole story” Zoe said.

  “Got it, no problem” Simone said to Zoe.

  Zoe was glad that Simone didn’t keep prying into things and accepted things for how they were for the time being. She wasn’t pushy, which was a good trait to have Zoe always thought.

  Zoe walked out the office room and walked over to Sophia’s door. Zoe was just getting ready to bang on the door when Jeff appeared. Zoe would’ve punched him in the face if he didn’t move his head away to the right from her fist.

  “Sorry, I was just about to knock” Zoe told him.

  “No it’s fine” Jeff said.

  His eyes were strained and were looking past Zoe. He barely even registered her.

  ‘He’s worried’ Zoe thought.

  Jeff looked at Zoe and blinked as he reminded himself that Zoe was standing there in front of him. He didn’t speak, Zoe didn’t know if he was lost for words or didn’t want to tell her what was going on with Sophia. Pretty soon they heard the others beginning to come back, they must’ve finished off killing the skin eaters.

  Jeff grabbed Zoe’s arm and dragged her to Zoe’s room.

  “Jeff why are you pulling me? What is it?” Zoe asked him as he took her into the room.

  Jeff didn’t speak as he closed the door He didn’t even turn around to face Zoe. He stood there with his back to her, head bowed down and breathing quickly.

  “Jeff? What’s wrong?” Zoe asked him.

  Jeff still didn’t speak. Zoe didn’t know what was going on. Was he afraid to tell Zoe what was wrong with Sophia? Was it really something that bad that she needed pills for? Zoe was beginning to get scared. Finally Jeff turned to face her.

  “Sophia has a mental health illness” Jeff told her, avoiding her eyes.

  “Okay..” Zoe said.

  “That’s why she has to take her pills, otherwise it can get out of control, like you’ve just seen. Sometimes it can be worse” Jeff told her.

  “Okay..” Zoe said again. She didn’t know what else to say.

  Jeff looked up to face Zoe, worry etched around his eyes. He had grown older by ten years in the past half an hour.

  “Zoe, Sophia has split personality disorder” Jeff told her.

  “Oh.. right..” Zoe thought.

  Now Sophia’s behaviours were all beginning to make sense.

  “If she takes her pills she’s fine, if a little eccentric and in your face but fine. It’s when she stops taking them, she gets out of control. It’s scary” Jeff told her.

  Zoe knew without Jeff having to tell her that serious incidents had happened before involving Sophia and other people.

  “Jeff, we have to let the group know about this” Zoe told him.

  “No, we can’t. They’ll throw her out for good!’ Jeff pleaded with Zoe.

  “It’s either tell them about her illness or let them think she’s crazy and I know that option two will make them throw her out a lot quicker and more definitely than option one” Zoe told him.

  Jeff went quiet, he was thinking about what to do.

  “Okay, I’ll tell them. God Zoe I hope they take it well. I hope Arthurs takes it well, he doesn’t know. She’s good at keeping secrets” Jeff told Zoe.

  ‘I bet she is’ Zoe thought.

  “We’ll tell them together okay?” Zoe asked Jeff.

  “Okay” Jeff answered her.

  “Lets go get this over with shall we?” Zoe said to Jeff.

  Jeff opened the door and they walked out. Zoe took his hand in hers and squeezed it like they were used to doing with each other now.

  ‘God I hope the group handles this well. If there’s a god up there, please let them handle this well so that Jeff can stay with me?’ Zoe prayed in her head.

  They entered the office and saw everyone’s eyes upon them.

  ‘This is either going to be sympathy and understanding for Sophia or the group would no longer trust Sophia or Jeff’ Zoe thought.

  ‘It’s going to be option number two I think’ Zoe thought as Jeff cleared his throat to speak.

  Chapter 8

  “And you two thought it would be best that we all not know about it!” Sue yelled.

  Jeff had just told the group about Sophia having split personality disorder. Apart from confusion as to why Jeff and Sophia didn’t tell the group about it, they had surprisingly taken it well.

  “We’re sorry, we didn’t think you’d let us stay if we told you, not a lot of people take mental health news well” Jeff said to Sue.

  “Don’t be so silly! We’d rather know than not know so that we can help and it helps clear a lot of things up about why she can change herself so quickly” Sue said to Jeff.

  “Yeah and maybe next time I can avoid being hit in the head with a rock” Sarah said.

  “I know it was stupid not saying anything but we were scared” Jeff told them.

  “Why didn’t she tell me Jeff?” Arthur asked him.

  “I don’t know, I always said she had to tell you at some point and she said she would but then the skin eaters came about and it must’ve went to the back of her mind” Jeff told him.

  Arthur nodded his head and sat down next to his mum and dad.

  “I have some medication here that may help her with her split personality, to keep it under control as best she can” Simone told Jeff.

  “I grabbed as many drugs and things as I could from the hospital” Simone explained to them.

  “That would be great Simone. She’s sleeping now at least” Jeff said.

  Zoe had been standing by Jeff’s side, holding onto his hand for support. Zoe hadn’t said anything whilst Jeff told them, she would’ve stood up for him if the group had taken the news badly, turns out she didn’t need to. They were a supportive bunch of people, at least that was good.

  “I’m going out to take watch, let you all have a rest” Zoe told them.

  “I’ll come with you for a bit” Arthur said to her.

  Zoe didn’t protest. Yes, she would’ve loved the quiet time to herself but she knew Arthur needed some alone time to think as well. He had just been told news about his girlfriend that he never would’ve expected.

  Zoe and Jeff walked outside. It was dark now, still warm though, uncomfortably warm. It was nearing the end of July now, soon to be August which meant that the cold weather was on it’s way and none of them was prepared for it. Clothes wise and mindset wise. This would be a conversation they would have to have at some point.

  Zoe and Jeff walked quietly beside each other checking around the fence to see if there were any skin eaters hanging around. Zoe noticed the pile of skin eaters bodies that Zoe, Sarah and Sophia had attracted with all of their shouting and fighting. There were quite a lot of them. Zoe hadn’t even heard all the skin eaters approaching, she had let her guard slip. One minute there was only one there and the next, well it looked like around 20 had appeared.

  ‘Last time I let my guard down otherwise next tim
e I’ll be eaten and dead’ Zoe thought to herself.

  There was only three skin eaters hanging around the fence. Zoe wound up being the one killing them all. Jeff was able to walk beside her but he was lost in his own world. Zoe didn’t mind killing the three skin eaters, maybe one day if she needed to be lost in her own little world then Arthur would return the favour.

  Soon enough they were back at the main doors and sitting down on the bus seats that Arthur had managed to take out one of the old buses for them to sit on. It was so much better than sitting on the ground all the time. Zoe didn’t think her bum would handle that much longer!

  “Do you think she’ll be okay now that Simone has some medication for her?” Arthur asked Zoe.

  “Yeah I think she will be, better than she has been for the past few days anyway”Zoe told him.

  “What happens when the pills run out and if we can’t get anymore? Will she go back to wanting to hit people on the head with rocks?” Arthur asked again.

  “We won’t let that happen, we’ll all help look after her and if we need to go out and get more pills for her then we will” Zoe told him.

  “Okay, yeah, sounds good” Arthur said.

  “Look, why don’t you go back in and go see Sophia? I’m sure she would love to have you with her now” Zoe said to him.

  “What if I say the wrong thing and upset her?”

  “You won’t. Look, you can’t start tiptoeing around her, that’ll only make things worse for her, just be like you normally are with her.”

  “Right, be myself. Got it. Thanks Zoe.”

  Zoe watched Arthur go off inside. He was such a nervous guy when it came to Sophia. He must really, really like her. It was cute. Zoe sighed and leaned into the chair and looked up to the sky.

  “My son sure knows how to pick them” Mikes voice sounded out.

  “Has there been other girls before Sophia?” Zoe asked him as he sat down beside her.

  “Two others. Little bit not there if you get me” Mike said.

  “I got what you meant, he’ll be good with her though” Zoe told him.

  “I know he will be, Sue raised him right” Mike said to her.

  “What’s made you come out here?” Zoe asked him.

  “I was just coming out for a breath of air for a minute.”

  “Not a problem. You doing okay though?” Zoe asked him.

  ‘I’m doing fine, we have a nice setup here, I feel settled for now” Mike said to Zoe with a smile.

  Zoe smiled back him. Mike stood up and walked back into the building. Zoe turned her head back to the sky and got lost in her own thoughts.

  ‘What a bizarre day, never thought all that’s happened would actually ever happen’ Zoe thought.

  It made Zoe’s thoughts turn to her own brush with mental health. Zoe hadn’t always been so collected and able to take care of herself. After her brush with the law stealing cars Zoe had fallen down a dark hole. Depression. It took a while for Zoe to get back on her feet but she got there in the end. On her own and with the help from doctors as well.

  Zoe had promised herself that she wouldn’t go down that dark path again, no matter how many hardships she would face in her life. She never wanted to think about ending her life ever again.

  It was quiet night, only one skin eater had came up to the fence which Zoe had easily taken care of. This one wasn’t very pretty. Whole face was pretty much gone. None of his organs were left in his body it seemed. Chunks missing from his legs and arms.

  ‘How are you even still walking’ Zoe had thought when she seen it.

  Zoe had began thinking about the epidemic during the night. She began thinking how this even started. Why had no one on the TV that day in Mike and Sues house even explained how it started? Why had no one been around to save them like the army? Surely they should’ve seen someone in uniform around about now? Did the government have a secret underground city that they went to with all the important people of the country and leave everyone else to suffer and from the skin eaters? It sure did seem that way.

  ‘I wonder if this is it for the rest of our live, running away from and fighting the skin eaters?’ Zoe thought.

  There had to be a safe zone out there. This epidemic didn’t just kick off one minute and then the world was overrun the next. The top guys had to know about this well before and had to have set up safe zones out there. They just had to have done. Zoe swore to herself that she would find out where they were all hiding. She wanted answers.

  Zoe began to see the sun rising, the sky beginning to lighten, it was such a nice sight. She always seen this as she was heading to work, it made the early mornings that bit easier.

  “Hey, you’ve been out here all night, go inside and get some rest” Sarah said to her.

  “Will you be okay taking the watch what with your head injury and all?” Zoe asked her.

  “It’s only a bump, I’ll manage and uh thanks for helping me with Sophia and before that when I um wanted to get bit and doe..” Sarah said to her.

  “It’s no problem, you still wanting to do that?”

  “Not going to lie, I am always going to want to die to be with Chris but I’ll be fine, he wouldn’t want me to die so I won’t, for him.”

  “Good, I don’t want you going anywhere Sarah.”

  “I promise I won’t.” Sarah said with a smile.

  Zoe stood and walked inside. Everyone was still asleep it seemed. Mike and Sue door was open and Zoe could see Alex curled up beside Sue.

  ‘Looks like Jeff is sleeping beside Sophia to keep an eye on her’ Zoe thought.

  Zoe got a surprise when she opened her door to find Jeff sleeping on her makeshift bed. Zoe thought he would want to be with Sophia. He seemed to be sleeping as he didn’t stir when Zoe had opened the door. Zoe turned her back to him and got undressed so she could put her joggers and loose fit t shirt on since it was comfier to sleep in. What Zoe didn’t feel was Jeff’s eyes on her. He wasn’t being the creep and staring, he just felt attracted to her and was beginning to really like her. Guys usually do this with girls they like and vice versa, girls done it too.

  Jeff closed his eyes as Zoe turned back around to get into bed. He made his breathing as even as he could. He didn’t want Zoe knowing that he was awake and staring at her. She would be freaked out at that.

  Zoe wouldn’t have probably noticed if Jeff had his eyes open and was awake. The exhaustion hit her as soon as she turned to get into the bed. It had been a long twenty four hours. Sleep soon hit Zoe and she was out cold. Zoe slept ten times better when Jeff was beside her. She didn’t need to still be a little conscious in case of a skin eater attack.

  Jeff opened his eyes when he heard Zoe snoring lightly. He would tell her about her snoring at a later time. He knew he could have a laugh with Zoe. Jeff wanted to tell Zoe how he felt about her but he was a little afraid he might end up pushing her away and he didn’t want that to happen. Jeff kind of depended on Zoe a little, she helped him get through the difficult things he faced. Jeff also wanted to really get to know her.

  After about twenty minutes of looking at Zoe as she slept Jeff reluctantly got up. He wanted to ‘accidentally’ end up spooning Zoe again to feel her against him but he decided against it. The next time he cuddled up to Zoe would be when she asked for it.

  Jeff grabbed his clothes and walked over to the shower room (an office with a shower was the jackpot of finding this bus depot). After his shower he went to go find Alex and help him get ready for the day. Mike and Sue had been great with him but Jeff missed taking care of his little brother. Jeff also went to check on Sophia. She was still sleeping, Arthur asleep beside her. Jeff could trust Arthur to look after Sophia, Jeff knew he cared for her. Young love.

  Jeff checked outside for any skin eater activity before bringing Alex out for a kick around of football and found none.

  ‘Good, a perfect day to spend with my little brother, a normal day’ Jeff said.

  Zoe woke up around one in the afternoon. S
he turned around to find that Jeff was gone. Zoe was a little disappointed that he was gone but then again what was she expecting? He had things to do with his day.

  Zoe lay there for an extra five minutes letting herself fully waken up before actually getting up.

  ‘Well, no avoiding the day now’ Zoe thought as she forced herself up.

  Zoe stood up, stretched and grabbed a clean pair of clothes before heading to the shower.

  ‘I’l have to do another wash tomorrow I think, I’m down to one more clean t shirt and these jeans can only do one more day’ Zoe thought.

  Zoe nodded and smiled to Alice and Simone who were talking in the office doorway. Zoe went to the shower, locked the door behind her, turned the shower on, stripped her clothes off and jumped straight into the shower letting the warm water run over her. The shower was the best part of Zoes days. The warm water helped you to relax and ease any pain you may have felt. Zoe was glad there was still running water, who knew how long they would have it for. You couldn’t really stock up on warm water.

  After spending as much time she possibly could in the shower Zoe eventually got out. There was a mirror in here and Zoe noticed how tanned she had gotten in the past few weeks since the skin eater epidemic. All that time outside doing watches in the sun was beginning to show. She like how she looked with a tan.

  ‘I wonder if Jeff will like the tan’ Zoe thought with a smile.

  Zoe was beginning to let loose around Jeff, even thoughts of a relationship with him were becoming more realistic to her and she was liking the idea more and more. Zoe went back to her room, put her comfy clothes to the side and grabbed the brush to brush her hair. It also felt good to have a proper brush instead of using her fingers to brush her hair.

  “Hey Zoe, want some food?” Alice asked her as Zoe walked out her room.

  “Yeah, that would be great thanks” Zoe said as she followed Alice into Simone office space.

  “Anyone seen Sophia yet?” Zoe asked Alice as they walked past her room.

  “Not yet. Arthur came out to get food for her, said she is doing a bit better, feeling awful about what she done to Sarah though” Alice said.